Social Media and Google Analysis

Summary:

Social Media is an important part of today’s successful online presence. As more companies realize this, they are adding more social media buttons to their blogs and websites. In today’s tech savvy world, those who are successfully managing their social media presence are using programs which allow them to post once and send it to multiple social media sites – saving time and money in the process. As beneficial as this savings is, the question remains – how to determine what, if any, return on investment your social media postings and campaigns are yielding.

This article details how to configure a social media widget in Google Analytics. A social media widget will provide you with insight into your social media campaigns and identify which social media sites are driving traffic back to your website. This simple tool will funnel data into Google Analytics so you can determine if your social media campaigns are cost effective

This article covers how individuals and businesses can take advantage of Google Analytics social media widget to monitor their company’s various social media campaigns. With the social media widget properly configured, you will be able to determine if your social media campaign is producing the desired results for your company.

Google Analytics is a powerful tool with a lot of features and when configured properly on your website it can give the webmaster insights to his web traffic. Signing up for Google Analytics is FREE but the benefits of knowing how potential customers come to your website and what they are searching for is priceless. It only takes a few minutes to sign up and place a small amount of code on your pages -then watch the data roll into your Google Analytics account.

No matter the size of your business, you should have a business plan that encompasses social media. The plan can include promoting the company brand, raising awareness about new products, or paid advertising that directs potential customers to the websites to buy an item. But how do you know if your advertising dollars are giving you a good return on investment (ROI)? How do you track which customers/purchasers came from a social media site, or specifically which post drove them to your website? While Google Analytics tracks and reports your website traffic, your Dashboard is comprised of widgets that provide an overview of the metrics and reports you care about most – it is located under Acquisition and then Social.

Let’s get started creating a widget inside your dashboard for “Social Media”. When we have completed the Social Media widget you will get a better understanding of your traffic from sites like Google +, Twitter, Facebook, tumbler and more.

Login to your Google Analysis account. Select your account.

Look for “dashboards”, if you have one created it will appear under “Private”

If not Click “new dashboard, give it a name (Social Media) and then select “save”.

Open your newly created dashboard or preexisting dashboard.

Select Add Widget, a popup box will appear.

Widget title: Give it a descriptive name (ex: Social Media).

Select the pie on the first line and you will be presented with more options